HE GONE!
Last week my phone rang just as I dropped Curly at b-ball camp.
Principal: HAVE A MINUTE?
Me: I'M IN THE PARKING LOT . . .
Principal: CAN YOU MEET ME IN THE CIRCLE DRIVE SO WE CAN TALK?
I met him. He explained that I was going to get an email from the superintendent stating that they didn't find that Ego violated the school bully/harassment policy, BUT that he was not meeting school standards (and some other policy) SO Henrietta and the principal would decide how to proceed. He couldn't tell me what action would be taken because it was a personnel issues, but I would see changes right away.
Then he rambled on for 35 minutes. I could win an award for talking too much, just ask Delilah - but this guy? He makes me look like the cat has my tongue.
While I had an audience, I managed to speak about 10 words, including: THE AD IS NOT DOING HIS JOB. NOT JUST IN B-BALL, BUT ACROSS MOST SPORTS. I HOPE YOU LOOK INTO IT.
Our district just hired a new assistant to the superintendent for $200,000 a year. ASSISTANT, mind you. The AD makes $143K and he does nothing. In our district, we pay for our kids to be involved in sports, which wasn't the way it was when Lad started out in public high school. Why does the AD just grope around at the bottom of the barrel and hire unqualified folks for all of our sport teams and pretend they are coaches? Something is off.
*Ok, maybe that was more than 10 words.
I drove home feeling I was on top of the world. Ego would not be coaching anymore - right?
Ed: ASSUME THE WORST. HE'S PROBABLY JUST GONNA GET A SLAP ON THE WRIST.
Reg came back from b-ball the next two days saying EGO IS STILL THERE. I KNEW THEY WEREN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING.
I left principal a strongly worded voice message. DID I MISUNDERSTAND SOMETHING? I KNOW YOU CAN'T TELL ME WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN, BUT SEEING CHANGES RIGHT AWAY? I SEE NOTHING. WE HAVE OPTIONS (including filing an appeal, but we only had so many days to do that. Was he stalling? Hoping I would miss that opportunity?) AND WE NEED TO DECIDE WHAT WE ARE DOING. (if Ego was going to coach I would've asked Reg if he wanted to attend a Catholic school for his senior year).
The next day at Reg's b-ball camp, Ego said: SO I'M RESIGNING FROM COACHING VARSITY. DO ME A FAVOR AND DON'T ASK ME WHY. I'LL STILL BE INVOVLED IN THE PROGRAM.
Were they just letting him finish out the week? Why? Ed wanted to know if I needed him to draft an apology email to the principal for jumping the gun. Early on the AD told me that I'd see changes right away and that turned out to be the AD talking to Ego. That was the big change. I feared I'd been duped AGAIN. I sincerely hope that he isn't allowed to coach freshmen again, but we are taking him not coaching varsity as a WIN.
Clarify
There have been two b-ball team issues for Reg and I want to clarify.
Ego - high school coach, very LOW b-ball IQ, said degrading things to our kid on and off the court, in class he told Reg he thought he was to blame for all the varsity games lost.
Worm - AAU coach - like a travel team, knows everything there is to know about b-ball, but pretends he cares about getting his players college looks and that this is not a business for him. It is definitely a business and despite what he says he makes bank on his AAU team. He wasn't upfront with Reg for this season. I wish he'd held a new tryout for the new season and then told certain boys (like Reg) that they might be better switching teams.
Clueless or nervy
Remember when Reg and I had the wrestling match with the phone in the kitchen? Reg asked Worm if he could still attend the June workouts. High school teams play a summer league in June, so AAU teams take a break.
Worm: SURE, REG. YOU PAID FOR THEM - YOU CAN GO TO THAT STUFF. *remember he wouldn't refund any of our money.
Last week Reg told me that he'd texted Worm to ask when the June workout were. Worm didn't respond. That night at dinner, I told Coach about Reg's text.
Reg: YEAH, HE NEVER RESPONDED. SO I TEXTED HIM AGAIN.
People, I almost fell off of my chair. Clearly Worm didn't want Reg attending workouts since he'd jumped ship - regardless of whether or not we'd paid. The fact that Reg didn't pick up on that floored me. I cackled, pounding the table. Reg could've just texted his former teammates and asked them when the workout were, but he ended up surrendering.
This might shock you, but I FULLY SUPPORTED Reg showing up to workouts whether he was welcomed of not. Eat it Worm!
Eat it Worm
I regularly attend weekend HS bball tournies and games on Tu/Th nights for both Reg and Curly, in case you thought I'm kicking back during these here summer days of no babysitting.
Reg played in a tournie on Father's Day. One game was against a high school attended by one of Reg's former Worm teammates. Worm (remember he coaches AAU - not HS) came to the high school game to watch 'TP', one of his potential D1 top prospects.
When Reg guarded TP, TP couldn't get a shot off even though he rarely misses his 3 pointers. Reg is a great defender, so he forced TP to pass the ball vs take a shot. Reg had about 23 points in that game. Each basket he made or turnover he forced or rebound he grabbed, I mumbled EAT THAT, WORM.
Admittedly Reg's 3 point shot is off. Remember when sophomore Reg went down state for the 3 point competition? Well, his knee tendinopathy has messed with his stance or something. Curly's AAU coach has agreed to work with him, but he is tough to nail down. 
I labeled Worm in the photo. It's blurry, but I'm guessing you can see the resemblance. He was on the
other side of the gym from me, a safe distance.
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| I thought the Swiffer attachments resembled giant maxipads, and I didn't really think that was the look they were going for. |
Then the three of them decided to sport homemade shirts featuring Kanye West quotes. If you don't live under a rock, like I do, then you might get that Kanye and Taylor dislike one another.
They had a blast, but Ed's girlfriend was still trying to get tickets to the concert and spent a lot of time checking her phone, apparently. She was also not happy with the Shenanigans' shirt goofiness. Hmmm.
Did you know about Taylor vs Kanye? Did you go to the Taylor concert - or know anyone who did? Are you shocked that Ego was removed from his coaching position? Don't you think Reg should still go to the workout that we paid for?
17 comments:
I think it would be best for Reg to walk away from Worm. I hate wasting money, but don't get caught up in a sunk cost fallacy. Reg can thrive with his new group - and shake the Worm's dust off his feet. Living well is the best revenge.
Sorry that Ego is till teaching, but at least he can't bring the court into his classroom anymore. It'll reduce that type of bullying. Maybe you'll have inspired other parents to speak up!
I'm surprised you still want your son to show up at workouts. Why not make a clean break, period? I get that you paid for it, but it seems you're inviting even more conflict into your life. Take the win with the other guy and embrace Serenity.
Of course I knew about Taylor and Kanye! I hate that Kanye is such a horrible person because I used to really enjoy his music. Gah, why must talented musicians be such dicks.
Did you know about Taylor vs Kanye? Did you go to the Taylor concert - or know anyone who did? No & No
Are you shocked that Ego was removed from his coaching position? Yes
Don't you think Reg should still go to the workout that we paid for? Not really, nothing more to learn from the experience, conflict resolved life moves on
mbmom11 - I meant to mention that I'm not sure if there are any classroom changes for Ego. Henrietta told us when they interviewed Reg that they have various ways to address the classroom piece - require counseling, or suspension for a time, or have him co-teach, etc. I'll work with the guidance counselor to be sure none of my kids ever land in his class again. That won't be very hard as he teaches freshmen and juniors. Reg will avoid him and Curly didn't have him as a freshmen - so she just has to avoid him junior year.
I would never have expected Reg to attend the June workouts - I honestly forgot that was part of the program. Worm isn't really involved and isn't necessarily in attendance, it is more of an open gym for the players. Reg wanted to go - he likes/misses some of his teammates. That was the reason I wanted him to go - if he wanted to see his buddies, then I say go. Worm wasn't horrible to him in the same way Ego was - he just focused on his new recruits and in our opinion added too many players to his team. But I do get the clean break mentality.
Nance - I want what Reg wants - he has friends on the old team. Worm doesn't even necessarily attend the workouts. Think open gym with old pals. That was all. Reg reached out to his new coach and that guy got him some time in the gym where they practice, which is really far from home but it worked out. In the meantime, very happy that the HS addressed the coaching issue.
Nicole - My kids had to explain to me that Kanye is crazy and the background to the quotes. I missed that 'news' - shock. He sounds like he is unglued. They enjoyed making fun of how nuts he is.
Ally - I'm glad I was not the only person on the planet, as my children implied, that didn't know about Kanye's issue with Taylor. My kids were blown away by how many people they knew who attended that concert as the ticket prices were staggering.
We were THRILLED, and a bit surprised that they removed Ego, but hearing Reg describe what he dealt with was pretty awful.
I see your point. I know Reg enjoyed the friends he made on that team - none of whom attend his high school and Worm isn't really present or isn't offering feedback, more of an open gym situation. I was glad that Reg reached out to his new coach who helped him get some open gym time at the far away gym the new team uses for practices.
Kanye is an asshat! Yes, I remembered his BS with Taylor.
I love the shirts!
YAY for the EGO getting taken down a notch; this makes me SO happy!! Jerk.
And Worm; I love that he was there while Reg played well. BOOM!
Yes, Reg should go to the workouts---It's what you paid for.
Wow! So glad that they actually took action and removed the coach from his varsity coaching! Congrats!
I've seen it a couple of times when problematic people either saw the writing on the wall or were most likely advised to step down rather than face the consequences that were coming. The most recent was my kid's elementary school principal. I'm told by reliable sources that he wasn't doing parts of his job and then was caught falsifying documentation to make it look as if he was doing some of the work. The principal found a new principal job elsewhere within about a year of the falsification starting to surface-- the investigation wasn't completed. I continue to wonder exactly how much the new school even was told about why he left, if anything.
On the one hand, stepping down/quitting does take Ego out of the role at your school, at least for now. But by letting Ego resign while "still being involved," it lets him dodge having it on record that he was forced out for problems. It makes it easier for him to come back, either at your school or another. It's a win, to a degree, but the school is letting him have the easier out.
Saying something general like Ego wasn't meeting school standards (vs. Ego violating bullying/harassment policies) sounds like a way for the district to get out of admitting any type of fault or having you sue them, report them, etc. I can only hope you and your family do not ever have to see him again.
I vaguely knew about Swift vs. Kayne, though at this point, isn't he in a beef with EVERYBODY?? LOL!
Suz - The shirts were funny. There's a reason I call Mini by her blog name- she is my daughter. Go against the grain much? Of course I needed the issue between the two explained to me. ;)
Ego will still be teaching in the school - but easy to avoid. Our guidance counselor knows all and will always do what she can to be of assistance. I hope he retires soon. I also wonder if he continues to be allowed to teach poor little freshmen, if a parent will end up complaining about him and then maybe the school would be like OK, NOW HE REALLY NEEDS TO GO. One can hope.
I feel similarly - if you wanna workout there and see your buds and the guy told you to go ahead and attend since you paid, then go for it. I doubt he will.
Suzanne - I had a hard time believing that they wouldn't switch to another coach but then again - I had a hard time believing that this all went on. Good riddance.
Anonymous - Ego is not leaving the school. He will still be teaching AP history there, so I don't think he is about to jump ship. He's too close to retirement and he has tenure. I do hope that he will retire soon, or that if another complaint arises they'll make a more drastic change.
Bijoux - You are probably right. I'm just glad that despite not being found guilty of violating the bullying policy that he was still removed from coaching Reg's varsity team his senior year. I'm nervous about who they will hire, because our AD is a moron. clearly, but can't be worse than what we just dealt with.
I think you are right - Kanye has a beef with the general population. Sounds like he needs a mental health intervention.
I'm so behind on my blog reading! I think it's funny how serious the Taylor Swift fans are. I tried to help a friend of mine get tickets for her and her daughter and it was insane the amount of time spent on hold on line - hours - but she finally got tickets. I love the tee-shirts! I also love that they are so basic - white tee and a black marker. The amount of money people are spending on outfits for the concert is crazy. But, I don't get it because I'm old - and cheap! :)
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